839 Episode 44 Evil Sophist (2)

What happened?

Why on earth is Yoo Joonghyuk in the Time Fault of the '40th Round'?

No matter how much I thought about it, there was no reason for it. The last time I parted ways with him was at the entrance of the Fear Realm.

I left the guy who hadn't fully recovered to Breaking the Sky Sword Saint and fell into the Fear Realm.

But the guy followed me into the Fear Realm, our paths crossed, and he arrived at this 'Transcendent Alliance' before me.

And then he entered the Time Fault of the '40th Round'. Why on earth?

I opened my mouth at the sudden thought. Now that I think about it, Yoo Jonhhyuk forgot most of what happened in the 40th Round as a side effect of the 'Story Imprint'.

What if he came to this 'Fault' to get them back?

I felt suffocated.

Damn it. Joonghyuk. Even so, what are you going to do if you challenge this?

In the 99th Scenario of the 40th Round, Yoo Joonghyuk's 'incarnation body' obviously won't exist.

If it's as we saw in Anna's [Past Sight], Yoo Joonghyuk's incarnation body was defeated by Cheon Inho before the last scenario.

Then, it was highly likely that Yoo Joonghyuk had possessed another incarnation and had performed the mission of the Time Fault.

Damn bastard, I'd rather challenge that 'Fault' above.

Even if I look at it again, it's a dizzying number, but if it were Yoo Joonghyuk now, it would have been better to challenge that side.

In the 99th Scenario of the 1,863rd Round, if he was lucky, he could have possessed Yoo Joonghyuk in the 1,863rd Round.

"It seems that 'Fault' is visible to you."

"Yes?"

Chungheo, who had suddenly appeared beside me, muttered while stroking his beard.

"Oh, didn't Ryunard say it? That Fault can't be seen by anyone."

Chungheo continued in a strangely dissonant voice.

"This world's 'Fault' can only be seen by those like me who came from outside, or by the Recorders who watch the world line. How strange. No newcomer has discovered that 'Fault' until now."

Only after hearing that did it occur to me that maybe Yoo Joonghyuk hadn't discovered that Fault.

Perhaps the incarnations from the 41st world line had a set type of 'Fault' that they could utilize.

Some Faults are visible, and some are invisible.

Just as you can't experience an event that you haven't experienced yet.

Even so, all of those events clearly exist 'together'...

"I'll say it again, you don't have to feel burdened. I can just press the reset button after everything is over. I’ve done that many times before."

"No. That’s the same as 'regression'."

"Regression?"

"I don’t want to save my comrade that way."

"Your comrade—"

"He's definitely still alive."

The monitor on the Time Fault wasn’t showing anything. But I trust Yoo Joonghyuk.

It was none other than Yoo Joonghyuk of the '41st Round'. There’s no way he would have entered the 40th Round without thinking.

"And I’m not going in alone, Kim Anna-ssi."

Anna Croft, who was trying to sneak away from behind at my call, turned around.

"Are you in your right mind?"

"You’re not going with me?"

"I don’t have an 'incarnation body' in that 'Fault'. If we go in together—"

"You can possess any incarnation and use it."

"That might not work! Didn’t you hear what the seniors explained? If you recklessly enter a Time Fault without a proper incarnation body…"

"If the soul doesn't settle down, it could become an Outer God."

I know.

If we were not careful, both Kim Anna and I could have been stuffed with 'Catastrophic Fear'.

But she couldn't refuse this offer.

"Aren't you curious about the ending of scenarios number 99?"

"…"

"I'm saying that you're curious about what I, Cheon Inho, saw at the end of that damned 40th Round."

"You really..."

"I'm a coward. So please be fooled by that cowardice one more time. I think I need you to see the ending of that 'Time Fault'."

"…"

"If we're going to see the ending in this round, we absolutely have to know what happened in the 40th Round."

I silently grabbed Anna's wrist. Anna Croft sighed deeply and looked at Chunghuh with pitiful eyes as if asking for help.

I looked at Chunghuh and said.

"Please delay the end until I return. Please."

"Wait! Wait! Cheon Inho! Aah—"

…

The two people disappeared beyond the swirling door. Someone approached Chunghuh, who was silently watching the door close in an instant.

"Master."

"Karlton."

Karlton, who had the heads of Outer Gods lined up in a silver chain, stood behind him.

"It seems the newbies have come in."

"That's right."

"Why didn't you stop him? This isn't a Time Fault that two newbies can handle."

"It's not like anything will change even if they're here."

"That Fault belongs to the 'Recorder of Fear'. If you get trapped inside, you can't come back even if you press the 'reset' button."

"He said he hated regression."

"Huh?"

Chunghuh laughed silently and looked up into the air, then spoke again.

"Jaehwan, that guy hated 'regression' to the point of death."

Karlton also hesitated at the name Jaehwan.

Chunghuh continued.

"That guy also climbed that high tower to save his friend."

Karlton also knew well what that 'tower' was. The tower and the world they knew had already disappeared, but the back of someone climbing that tower was vivid in their memories.

"He was the guy who climbed the difficult path that no one took, even though there was an easy path."

Karlton smiled bitterly.

Longing. In this Fear Realm, it was an emotion that was endlessly vague and, above all, powerful.

"It reminds me of the old days. Do you think the newbies will succeed?"

"In this 'End Zone' where everything is useless, do success and failure have much meaning?"

A wave of Outer Gods gathered like clouds in the sky and surged toward the Transcendents.

Chunghuh silently drew his sword and began to slash at the air with a grin.

"I just hope he finds a 'good story' in this cliche End."

The moment he said that, the Outer Gods' heads all turned somewhere.

The Outer Gods who followed their master were looking in the same direction as their master. That direction was, of course, where the '40th Round' Time Fault was.

Chunghuh added with a smile.

"Maybe he's already found it."

It was a familiar feeling. The same feeling as when I entered 'Fear' through the captain of the 'subway on the way home from work'.

At that time, I was disguised as a masked person of the Blood Cult who was chasing Yoo Joonghyuk.

But what is this now?

I thought I possessed Kim Dokja.

In addition, the incarnation's stories were completely destroyed, so it wouldn't be strange if I collapsed right away.

"Kim Anna-ssi."

I quietly called out to Anna Croft, but Anna didn't respond.

After briefly calling her, who might have become a 'Disaster-level Fear' Anna Croft by now, I slowly got up from my seat.

In that moment, something brushed past my head with a thud.

An arrow.

It was an arrow with an unusual 'force'.

"It's close! There's a guy nearby!"

Judging from the aftermath of the arrow's landing, they were incarnations with great energy.

They must be chasing Cheon Inho.

I had to run away somehow.

Even if the incarnation body was like this, running away was nothing. No matter what, this body was Cheon Inho who survived until the 'Last Scenario'...

Squeak.

I almost tripped and fell.

Why is this kid’s incarnation body still so weak? Is he really like Kim Dokja VER.2?

No, but it's scenario number 99, so how can his incarnation body be this weak?

It even seemed like his overall ability was lower than the last time I possessed him.

My mind became complicated.

No. Even though his basic overall ability is low, he rode the combination of 「Disease Acceleration」 and 「Weak Tongue」 as his exclusive traits?

Are you crazy?

Wait a minute. 「Disease Acceleration」 and 「Weak Tongue」. If I think about it carefully, I understand why he had these exclusive traits.

On top of that, 「Weak Tongue」 is a trait that increases the speed and power of 'Speech'-related skills in exchange for lowering his overall ability by half.

Combining these two allows for the so-called 「Magic Rapid Fire」.

However, Cheon Inho was not a magician, but an 'Instigator'.

In other words, this was a trait combination created with the idea of ​​casting [Incite] first before the opponent could do anything.

I was impressed by Cheon Inho's boldness.

It’s a 'trait combination' that could send you to the afterlife with just one hit in this scenario.

No matter how much I think about it, this is a method that only someone as crazy as Kim Dokja could possibly use.

And I was that crazy Kim Dokja.

"Yes, here."

Even though I was a total wreck, even though my incarnation body was a mess and my body was at the level of Kim Dokja — it was none other than the body of Cheon Inho, the 'One who Deceived the Stars' and the 'Evil Sophist' in the 40th Round.

I have [Incite].

If it's not another [Incite], but Cheon Inho's [Incite] that reached the end of the scenarios, what can't it do?

Just like I did with the Blood Demon, I can make them all kneel with subtle gaslighting and then crack the back of their heads.

I think that and get up.

"I finally found you, Cheon Inho."

What the heck, the Blood Demon I met last time was standing there again. Ah, was this kid alive?

Of course, I didn't listen to what he said and immediately activated [Incite].

Incite, which is displayed as 'level ???'. I was about to be amazed by his incredible skill.

I tried to smile and took a step back.

Damn it, I should have tried this before.

I wondered why my incarnation body ended up like this, but it seems I had already been using [Incite] vigorously somewhere.

I waved my hand as if I was greeting a friend I hadn't seen in a long time.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Blood Demon."

"Nice to meet you?"

Blood Demon said with a grin.

"Yes. Nice to meet you. Cheon Inho, I am grateful to you back then."

"I don't know what you're grateful for, but I'm glad. Then, would you mind throwing me some of the remaining herbs? If possible, it would be better if it were the Blood Spirits you gave me before."

The Blood Demon's eyebrows furrowed at my words.

"Damn you. Anyway, thanks to you, I've finally gotten one step closer to the [Regression Law]."

"Ah, that ridiculous Regression Law. You're still researching it, aren't you?"

I slowly took a step back, looking around. However, no matter where I looked, the Blood Demon's subordinates were already surrounding me.

It was a disaster.

I didn't think I'd die in the 'Final Scenario' to the Blood Demon, not Zeus or Poseidon.

"Yeah, it's all thanks to you defeating Poseidon."

"Who did I defeat?"

The Blood Demon looked at me like I was crazy. Only then did I understand why my incarnation body had become like this.

Did I have a fight with Poseidon of <Olympus>?

I even took that bastard down?

"I don't know what kind of scheme you're plotting, but it won't work this time. So put down that thing you stole from <Olympus> and get out."

Thing? Only then did I notice the thing shaking around the waist of my coat.

"If you give me that, I'll really let you live this time."

I stared blankly down at the thing in question.

I thought it was some kind of secret trick left by Cheon Inho, but the moment I confirmed it, I cursed without realizing it.

"This damn thing."

Yoo Joonghyuk's head was hanging from my waist.

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